Grava v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

205 F.3d 1177 (2000)

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Grava v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
205 F.3d 1177 (2000)

Facts

Dionesio Calunsag Grava (defendant) entered the United States in June 1991 from the Philippines and sought political asylum. In 1994, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) denied Grava’s initial asylum request because he failed to prove persecution as required by Section 208(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). When the INS began deportation proceedings, Grava requested political asylum and withholding of deportation. In his asylum application, Grava claimed he was subject to persecution as a whistleblower. In the Philippines, Grava served as a policeman, starting his career in the police in 1966. In 1972, Grava joined the customs office and was eventually promoted to a lieutenant. Grava managed to uncover several smuggling operations, including operations involving his supervisors and other policemen and customs officers. The press documented Grava’s efforts to combat smuggling. Grava received threats and harassment from his former supervisors, Marcos Loyalists, Communist insurgents, and the Philippines military and police, and these threats prompted Grava to flee to the United States. Grava’s application noted that his former supervisors, who were implicated in the smuggling operations, were still in power and that one supervisor allegedly killed a fellow customs officer. The immigration judge (IJ) denied the asylum application, and Grava appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision, criticizing Grava’s decision not to testify and his reliance on his written asylum application. The BIA also found that, assuming Grava’s written and oral testimony about his whistleblowing was true, Grava still failed to show that the persecution he suffered was on account of his political opinion. Grava appealed to the Ninth Circuit, arguing that he was persecuted because he criticized the government and took action against its corruption.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Thomas, J.)

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